PAJPH Special Issue - Open data for Caribbean health

The Caribbean region faces distinct health challenges shaped by constrained resources, a growing burden of noncommunicable diseases, and environmental vulnerabilities. Open data presents a powerful avenue for tackling these issues by enhancing transparency, encouraging collaboration, and enabling more effective use of health data to improve care and outcomes. This special issue explores how data accessibility and open collaboration can transform our ability to deliver evidence-based health solutions across the Caribbean small island developing states.

This edition brings together a series of articles that collectively introduce the potential of open health data in the Caribbean. Several articles consider data production and availability, highlighting the challenges faced by Caribbean nations in generating and maintaining high-quality, accessible data. Novel uses of available data to drive health improvements is explored with the development of “data journey maps”—re-imagining health data collection as a journey we each make through our healthcare system. Three articles present examples of regional data-sharing activities. The ethical aspects of data-sharing are discussed through the SHARE framework, emphasizing the importance of ensuring equity, cultural sensitivity, and ethical standards when managing and sharing health data.